It is not enough for Christians to do good deeds; they also need to embrace pure and godly thoughts, says American evangelist Billy Graham.
"Both are important in God's eyes. The reason is because what we believe will influence how we live, no matter who we are," Graham writes in an article for The Kansas City Star.
To shed light on this, he explains: "Suppose, for example, you believed the only purpose of life was to have a good time. God wasn't important to you; you only cared about yourself and what was happening to you right now. Would this belief influence the way you lived? Of course."
Graham says a person having this perspective in life is just like the man in one of Jesus' parables (Luke 12:19) who believed that people should "take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."
The tragedy of this, according to Graham, is that people will find themselves going on a dead-end road. "Not only would you never find lasting happiness, but one day you'd die and meet God, and then it would be too late. You'd discover your wrong beliefs had betrayed you," says Graham.
He shares Jesus' warning in Matthew 7:13: "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."
Graham then says the good news is that God loves His people very much, and because He does not want to see His people take the wrong road in life, He sacrificed His only Son Jesus Christ so people can be saved.
"When we give our lives to Christ and believe in Him, our lives will be different. We'll no longer live only for ourselves, but for Christ and for others," he says, adding that people should pray for them to "discover the joy and peace that come from following Christ."
